The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Vehicle identification numbers (VINs) include a series of numbers that uniquely identify motor vehicles. VINs may include, among other things, vehicle manufacturers, types, models, body styles, and individual information, individual vehicle information may include, for example, options installed or engine and transmission choices.
VIN specific systems attempt to provide parts information for most or all vehicles by associating the component parts of the vehicle with the respective VIN. Such systems often require massive storage databases that store almost every detail of every vehicle. Massive databases are required because each vehicle may include over three thousand parts and the databases should store at least a list of those parts to be complete. Some vehicle manufacturers physically write down all the information for parts associated with a particular vehicle rather than support large databases.